Divine right of kings

The divine right of kings, was a political and religiousdoctrine. It meant that a monarch was given the right to rule by God alone. His authority could not be questioned because he ruled in God's name. It gave a king absolute rule over his subjects.

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Pharaohs and some other ancient Kings were thought to actually be gods or descendants of gods. That concept went away when monotheism spread. A medieval principle held that God gave the right in to rule in secular matters to political rulers.[1] God gave the right to rule over spiritual matters to the Pope as head of the Church.[1] This has been called the 'doctrine of the two swords'.[2] In 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor.[3] From that time on the Emperor was the secular power while the Pope was the spiritual power. This concept began to break down prior to the First Crusade.[2] Rather than have the Emperor provide the manpower for the crusade, the Pope called on the nobility of Europe directly.[2]

Kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods...they have power of raising and casting down, of life and of death, judges over all their subjects and in all causes and yet accountable to none but God only.[5]

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In France the theory had been considered from the 13th century. Although France remained Catholic, her kings gradually pulled away from papal rule. By the 16th century the king replaced the pope as supreme authority over the French church.[6] After the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 the divine rights theory was no longer popular in England.[1] In France, kings including Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) continued the divine rights doctrine. That was until the French revolution in 1789.[1] By the 19th century it no longer had any credibility.[1]